Southwest Companion Pass: cost per mile Business Select vs Wanna Get Away 135,000 points

This guide shows how to compare Business Select and the lowest Southwest fare for a 135,000-point Companion Pass target.

It explains the incremental cost-per-point test and how the May 28 Basic fare change affects the calculation.

How Companion Pass points math works

Companion Pass qualification is a Rapid Rewards points threshold, not a fare purchase by itself. This guide uses a 135,000-point target as its working number, but you should verify the current requirement at Southwest.com/Rapid Rewards before you build any booking plan around it. Treat that target as a planning input that can change, not as a fixed rule.

The comparison has two baselines: Business Select and the lowest bookable fare. Before you set the low-fare baseline, verify whether the route still sells legacy Wanna Get Away or only the newer Basic fare. The low-fare side of the equation is whichever fare is actually bookable on that flight, not the fare name you expect — and confirm the Business Select earn rate on the same screen rather than assuming it earns more per dollar, since no grounding source confirms current earn rates.

This section defines the Companion Pass comparison as an incremental fare premium divided by incremental points earned. Calculate incremental cost per point as (Business Select fare minus lowest available fare) divided by (Business Select points minus lowest-fare points). That ratio is the effective price you are paying for each extra Rapid Rewards point toward the threshold.

Business Select beats the low fare for Companion Pass progress only when that incremental cost per point is below your verified value per point. A lower ratio means cheaper incremental points; a higher ratio means the low fare is the better buy for progress toward the target.

Because earn rates and thresholds are volatile, verify the points each fare earns on the exact itinerary and date before dividing. Use the same unit for both fares, and do not mix one-way and round-trip figures, taxes, or fees into the fare difference. If a figure is missing, stop at the mechanism: identify the two fares, collect both point totals, then divide.

Evidence and what it does not prove

Before you run any incremental math, confirm what the lowest fare actually is. Travel Weekly reported that effective May 28, Southwest introduced a branded basic economy fare called Basic, which replaces the carrier's longstanding low-end option, Wanna Get Away. That is a material change for anyone building a Companion Pass plan: every calculation in this guide depends on the points earned by the lowest fare class, and if that class changed names or terms mid-cycle, older tutorials may describe a product that no longer appears when you price your route. Check whether Wanna Get Away still shows up as a bookable fare on your specific route and date before you divide anything.

Here is what the available evidence supports: the existence and replacement date of Basic, as reported by Travel Weekly, and the general fact — via The Points Guy — that Southwest has multiple cobranded credit cards that let cardholders rack up miles for future travel. What no grounding source confirms is the current 2026 earn rate for Business Select versus Basic in Rapid Rewards points, or the current Companion Pass qualification threshold. This guide uses 135,000 points as its working number, but treat that as an assumption to verify, not a settled fact.

The practical consequence is that the incremental cost-per-point calculation from earlier sections is only as good as your inputs. If you pull the earn rate from a stale article written when Wanna Get Away was the benchmark, your denominator will be wrong, and a wrong denominator can flip the decision entirely — a premium that looks expensive per point under old rates may look cheap under current ones, or the reverse.

So build your verification sequence: open Southwest.com, price both Business Select and the lowest available fare on your actual route, label each figure one-way or round-trip so you never divide mismatched units, and read the current earn rates off the Rapid Rewards program page rather than any third-party summary. Confirm the qualification threshold on the same page.

What this section does not prove: whether Business Select beats the low fare for you. The earlier table gave a conditional winner, and the worksheet ran a hypothetical example, but neither substitutes for the live numbers on your booking screen. Evidence sets the method; the fare calendar decides.

Options compared: Business Select vs low fare

Compare Business Select against the lowest available fare on the same flight, then divide the fare difference by the point difference to get your incremental cost per point. The option with the lower incremental cost per point wins, regardless of which earns more total points.

Note that the earn rates shown in the table above are illustrative and are not confirmed by any grounding source; the worked worksheet below uses a different multiplier set for the same $189/$99 fares. Because both the multipliers and the resulting cost-per-point figure change with them, do not rely on either table's multiplier as a fact — read the actual Rapid Rewards earn rates for Business Select and Basic off Southwest.com for your exact itinerary, then apply the division using the worksheet in the next section.

As the worksheet shows, the comparison reduces to whether the incremental cost per point in your live calculation is below your personal value per point. If the premium is too high, or if you can earn the same points more cheaply through a cobranded credit card, the lower fare — whether Basic or legacy Wanna Get Away — becomes the winner.

And reusable worksheet

To use this worksheet, start with the two fares you are actually comparing on the same one-way itinerary: Business Select at $189 and the lowest available fare, which in this example is Basic at $99. These are labeled inputs for a method, not guaranteed prices. Calculate the points each fare earns by multiplying the one-way fare by its Rapid Rewards multiplier, so Business Select earns 6 times its fare and Basic earns 2 times its fare. This gives Business Select 1,134 points (6 × 189) and Basic 198 points (2 × 99).

The incremental fare is the difference between the two fares: $189 minus $99 equals $90 one-way. The incremental points are the difference in points earned: 1,134 minus 198 equals 936 points. Divide the incremental fare by the incremental points to get the incremental cost per point: $90 divided by 936 equals $0.0962 per point. This is the price you are paying for each additional Companion Pass-qualifying point by choosing Business Select over Basic.

Compare that $0.0962 per point to your own verified value per Rapid Rewards point. If you value points at $0.01 each, then those 936 points are worth $9.36 to you, but you paid $90 for them, meaning you overpaid by $80.64. In that case, Business Select does not beat the low fare for Companion Pass progress. Only book Business Select when your incremental cost per point is below your verified point value.

Before applying this worksheet, confirm that the fare you are calling the lowest is actually the lowest available on your exact itinerary, and verify whether it is Basic or another discount fare. Travel Weekly reported that Basic replaced Wanna Get Away effective May 28, but no grounding source confirms current Companion Pass earn rates or the 135,000-point threshold, so treat those as checks rather than fixed rules. Recompute the arithmetic for every booking using the actual fares and multipliers shown at checkout.

Decision rules for booking in 2026

If Business Select's incremental cost per point is below your verified value per Rapid Rewards point, book Business Select to accelerate the 135,000-point target; if above, book the low-fare baseline and earn the difference elsewhere. The formula itself is defined in the Companion Pass section above and applied in the worksheet, so recompute it there with live numbers rather than restating it here.

If Wanna Get Away is still bookable on your route, compare it directly against Basic first, then use the winner as the low-fare baseline; if it is not bookable, use Basic only. Southwest's Basic fare replaced Wanna Get Away effective May 28, per Travel Weekly, so confirm which fares are actually offered before running comparisons.

If the fare premium is paid round-trip, compute incremental cost per point using round-trip totals for both fare and points to avoid mismatched units. Label every figure one-way or round-trip and never divide mismatched units.

Run the worksheet above with your verified value per point and the actual fares and earn rates shown at Southwest.com before booking; the if/then rules in this section apply that worksheet's output directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What working Companion Pass points target does this guide use?

This guide uses a 135,000-point target as its working number.

What should travelers verify before building a booking plan around that target?

You should verify the current requirement at Southwest.com/Rapid Rewards before you build any booking plan around it.

How is Companion Pass qualification defined?

Companion Pass qualification is a Rapid Rewards points threshold, not a fare purchase by itself.

What formula compares Business Select with the lowest available fare?

Compute (Business Select fare − lowest available fare) ÷ (Business Select points − lowest-fare points).

When should Business Select be booked under the incremental test?

Book Business Select only if that result is below your verified value per point.

What low-end fare change is effective May 28?

Southwest effective May 28 is introducing Basic, which replaces the carrier's longstanding low-end option, Wanna Get Away.

Quick answers

Also worth reading: Spirit Airlines' New Daily Routes from Columbus A Detailed Analysis of Route Expansion and Pricing Impact: Spirit Airlines' New Daily Routes · Clear's $189 Fee vs PreCheck $78: Break-Even Threshold 2026: Clear's $189 Fee vs PreCheck · Mid-Week Flight Patterns to Oklahoma City Analysis of 2024's Most Cost-Effective Travel Days: Mid-Week Flight Patterns to Oklahoma